Player-piano



I. R. A. LANG.

PLAYER PIANO. APPIIC'ATION FILED APR.4, 1917.

1,354,767. Patented Oct. 5,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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INVENTUR l. B. A. LANG.

PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4. 1917.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A TTORIVE V UNITED STATESVPATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. A LANG, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK,

ASSIGN OR TO ESTEY PIANO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK PLAYER-PIANO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Application filed August 4, 1917. Serial No. 184,418.

T all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, J OHN R. A. L ANG, a citizen of the United States, resldlng at Mount Vernon, in the county of Vestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player- Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to player planos and with regard to its more specific features, devices for operating the treadle doors and treadles of the piano.

in object of this invention is to prov de a player piano having a front board wlth a treadle door therein, with a door and treadle operating means which will permit the re-- moval of the front board without disconnecting the door operating means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a treadle door operating means for a player piano capable of easily and smoothly operating the treadle door and treadles ofa player piano and wh ch will be s mple n operation and economical and practicable in construction.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings attached to and forming part of this speclfication wherein similar reference characters'refer to similar parts throughout the several views,

Fi ure 1 is an elevation of a player piano )dving this invention;

is an enlarged view similar to Fig. I i the front board of the piano removed; is a vertical section of a portion of t piano showing some of the operating 40 levers in position with the door closed; c

at is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the position of the levers with the door open and is a view of a portion of the inside of the door.

In the drawings the numeral 1 indicates a plzwer piano which is illustrated as of the upright type having a keyboard as 2 and a panel board 3 to close theportion of the piano below the finger board. Pedals 4 may be provided, if desired, to permit the piano to be played manually.

In the board 3 there is door 10 which is preferably hinged to the front board by hinges 11 on the inner side of the door in position to permit the doors to be closed flush with the front board, and these hinges are preferably situated near the top of the door so that the door may be swung from a position to close the opening in the front board to a position to lie beneath the finger board of the piano.

To permit ready access to the interior of the piano, the board 3 is preferably made removable and to this end it may be arranged to fit between guides 13 and 14 on the piano and may be provided with dowels as 15 at its lower end adapted to fit in re cesses in the piano frame so that the front boards may be removed by lifting the same bodily sufficiently to clear the dowels from their engaging recesses and then swing the lower end outwardly free of the piano whereupon the upper end will slip out from between'the guides. The numeral 16 designates treadles by which the air pumping device of the player piano may be operated by the feet and these treadles are arranged to be movable from an operative position preferably in front of the front board of the piano when the door 10 is open to a position where they will be hidden from View by the door 10 when the latter is closed.

In the practical construction illustrated in the drawings, the treadle 16 is pivoted as at 17 to a support 18 adapted to extend vertically between the lower end of the treadle and the floor and serve as a pivot for the treadle around which it may be oscillated in performin the pumping operation. To enable the support 18 to be moved from its external position to its position within the piano case, there may be provided a link 19 pivoted to a bracket on the inner frame of the piano at 21 and pivoted to the support 18 at 17 and in order to control the position of the support 18 and bring it properly into position to rest upon the floor when it provided a treadle reaches its outer position, alink 20 may be provided pivoted to the support 18 below the pivot of the link 19 and pivoted to the bracket 31 as at 23 below the pivot 21 of the link 19. V

The difference between the pivots l7 and 22 may be slightly greater than the difference between the pivots 21 and 23 whereby the support 18 is moved from a slightly inclined position as indicated in Fig. 3 on the interior ofthe piano case to a substantially vertical position on the exterior thereof, and this proportion of linkage is of practical advantage in preparing a compact operating mechanism.' To permit the link 20 to clear the lower portion of the frame of the piano, this link may be of angular shape as illustrated. The upper portion of the treadle 16 may be pivoted'as at 25 to a link 26 which is inturn pivoted as at 27 with the rod 28 connected to the pumping mechanism, whereby on oscillating the treadle 16 about the pivot 17 the rod 28 will be reciprocated to operate the pumping mechanism.

The position of the pivots 25 and 27 and the length of the link 26 will preferably be such that thetreadle 16 may be moved in inclined position asshow n in Fig. 4 on the exterior of the piano frame to substantially vertical position on the inside of the piano frame as shown at Fig. 3, and this may be conveniently accomplished by disposing the pivot 27 below the pivots 21 and 23 and making the links 26 shorter than the links 19 and 20 and the proportions of these links will preferably be substantially such that the distance between the pivot 21 and 27 plus the length of the link 19 will equal the distance between the pivot 17 and 25 plus the link 26.

In order to permit the piano to be changed from the position shown in Fig. 3, in which it is adapted for manual playing, to the position shown in Fig. 4, where the treadles are exposed for automatic playing, the door 10 is raised and the treadles of the machine brought out and mechanism is provided for performing these operations simultaneously.

The treadles 16 and their connected levers are connected to the frame of the piano while the door 10 is preferably connected to'the front board 3. In order, therefore, to provide an operatingmechanism for operating these parts simultaneously, while at the same time permitting the removal of the front board when it is desired without previously disconnecting the door operating mechanism, the door operating mechanism is arranged with two cooperating members normally in a position to cooperate with each other to cause by their movement the opening of the door and "sopositioned upon the mechanism'that theremoval of the front board will automatically separate these members and that the replacing of the board will automatically bring them again into position to cobperate.

The door operating mechanism illustrated may comprise an oscillating shaft 30 journaled in brackets 31 on'the frame of the piano adaped by its oscillation to move the link 19. As illustrated one of the links 19 is formed integrally withthe'shafl 30and comprises an offset portion'of the shaft.

Means are also provided whereby the oscillation of the shaft 30 will cause the opening of the door. This mechanism may comprise a bracket 32 mounted upon the door 10 slightly above the. hinge 11 extending inwardly and upwardly therefrom as shown in Fig. 3. I A link 33 extending downwardly to the bracket 32 but is adapted to slide in a slot 35 in the bracket and this slot extends upwardly and inwardly from the door when. the door is closed whereby as the door is opened the pivot 34 will slide outwardly in the slot as the slot passes the horizontal; thus the lever arm by which the pivot 34 is fastened upon the door increases in length to compensate for the increased torque necessary to move the door as it approaches a horizontal position. The link 33 may carry at its lower end a roller 37 and there may be mounted upon the oscillating shaft 30 an arm 38 positioned toengage the roller 37 when the shaft 30 is oscillated to move the the entire motion of the opening of the door.

Asuitable guide as '40 will be provided upon the board 3 for guiding the movement of the link 33 which ma be rectangular in form and will preferab y be covered with felt to reduce. the noise. A stop as 41 may be provided to preventthe inward movement of the link 33 so as to insure thatthe roller 37 will be always in position to be engaged by the arm38.

Means are provided for operating the shaft 30 from a position at the keyboard whichlmay comprise a vertical shaft 43 operating the shaft'30 through beveled gears 44 and 45, an auxiliary shaft 46 operating the shaft 43 through beveled gears '47 and 48 and in turn operable by a handle 49 immediately beneath the keyboard. An arm 50 may be provided upon the shaft 30 to which one end'of a spring 51 may be'con- I nected, the other end of the'spring being attached to the framework of the piano.

their inoperative position and will prefer ably be so adjusted as to counterbalance the Weight of the treadles 16.

The operation of this device will be evident from the description thereof. The turning of the handle 49 will cause a corresponding turning of the shaft 30 causing the opening of the door through the medium of the arms 38 and link 33 and'causing the movement of the treadles to an operative position through the medium of the link 19. On a countermovement of the handle 49 the movements of all the parts will be reversed to restore the parts to their original position.

Should it be desired to remove the front board from the piano, it may conveniently be done merely by lifting out the bottom end, but only while the treadle mechanism is behind the board and the swinging door 10 is closed; that is, when arm 88 has re leased roller 37. During this proceeding the position of the arm 38 is not affected on ecount of the lost motion connection thereof with roller 37 so that when the board 3 is restored to its original position, the parts are in position again to cooperate.

It will be noted that the lost motion con nection between parts 38 and 33 is such that the former passes out of contact with roller 37 somewhat before complete closure of door 10. In order to prevent a final unchecked fallof the door thereafter, there is provided a cushioning or retarding means, which becomes effective on the door substantially when roller37 is freed by arm 38 and which is indicated as a small air bellows 42 mounted on the board 3 and having a padded actuating arm 43 disposed downwardly in the path of movement of bracket 32 when the door swings to close.

Thus by the above construction are accomplished among others the objects hereinbefore set forth.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of'the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: v

1. A player-piano including, in combination, a lower front board having an open-' ing, a swinging door pivoted to said board and movable to expose or close said opening, treadle mechanism movable through said opening from concealed position to playing position, and means including rotatable shafts disposed angularly and bevel gears therebetween for effecting simultaneous movement of said door and mechanism in one direction to expose said opening and carry said mechanism therethrough to playing position, and in the other direction to carry said mechanism back to concealed position and to close said opening.

2. A player-piano including, in combination, a removable front board having an opening, a swinging door pivoted to said board and movable to expose or close said opening, treadle mechanism movable through said opening from concealed position to playing position, and operating means attached to the piano case having a permanent connection to effect movement of said mechanism and having a disconnect ible connection to effect movement of said door, said last-mentioned connection permitting free removal of said board and insuring operative reestablishment of the connectionon replacement of said board.

3. A player-piano including, in combination, a removable front board having an opening, a door movable to expose or close said opening, treadle mechanism movable through said opening from concealed position to playing position, and common operating means for said door and mechanism, said means including parts which permit free removal of said board only when said door is positioned to close said opening.

f. A player-piano including, in combina tion, a removable front board having an opening, a door movable to expose or close said opening, treadle mechanism movable through said opening from concealed posi tion to playing positlon, and common operating means for said door and mechanism, said means including parts which permit free removal of said board only when said mechanism is positioned behind said board.

5. A player-piano including, in combination, a removable front board having an opening, a door movable to expose or close said opening,'treadle mechanism movable through said opening from concealed position to playing position, and common operating means for said door and iechanism, said means including engaging parts, one attached to the piano case and one removable with" said board, which permit free renism is positioned therebehind and said door is positioned to-close said opening.

6. A player-piano including, in combination, a casing having a door normally urged to closed position, means including a lost motion device for opening and closing said 'moval of said board only when said mechacasing, said parts passing out of engagement during the final closing movement of said door; and independent cushioning means to retard sa d final closing movement of said door.

8. A player-piano including,;in combina-' tion, a lower front board having a treadle opening, a door carried by said boardand movable to expose or close said opening, and

' operating'means for said doorincluding a part attached to the piano casing and a part carried by said board," said parts having a lost motion connection.

9. A player piano comprising in combination, a'casing, a board separable from said casing having an orifice, a swinging door adapted to close said orifice attached to said board and means for operating said'door comprising an element mounted on said board and an element mounted on another portion of said player piano in position to cooperate with thefirst mentioned element when said board is in to operate the door.

10. A player piano comprising, in combination, a casing, a board separable from said casing and having an orifice, a door hinged at its upper end to said board and adapted to close'said orifice, and means for operating said door comprising a bracket connected to said door and a link connected to said bracket and an arm mounted on another portion of said player piano in position to cooperate with the link when said front board is in position on said the door may be opened.

11. A player piano comprising, in combi-' nation, a casing, aboard separable from said casing and having an orifice, a door hinged at its upper end to said board and adapted to close said orifice, and means for operating said door comprising a bracket connected to said door and a linkhaving-a sliding pivotal connection with said bracket and acting to change the effective length of the.

bracket to compensate for the varying resistance of the door.

12. A player piano comprising, in combination, a casing, a board separable from said casing and having an orifice, a door hinged at its upper end to said board and adapted to close said orifice, means for operating said door comprising a bracket connected to said door, alink permanently connected to said bracket, anda rockshaft mounted on LB- other portion of the piano carrying an-arm,

position on said piano piano whereby said arm being mounted in such position that when the board is in'position on the, piano, the rocking of said shaft will cause hinged at its upper end to said board and adapted to close said orifice, and means for operating said door comprising a bracket connected to said door and a link connected to said bracket and an-arm mounted on another portion of said player piano in position to cooperate with thelink'when said front board is in position on said piano whereby the door may be opened.

14. A player piano comprising, in combi nation, a casing having a door therein and means foroperating said door adapted to exert a force upon the door varying asthe resistance of the door to operation varies.

15. A player piano comprising, in combi-.

nation, a casing having an orifice therein, a doorpivoted to said casing on ahorizontal pivot near the upper edge of the door whereby the door is normally biased toward a closedposition, and means for opening said door adapted to exert a force upon'said' door increasing as the turning moment of the door increases.

16. A player-piano comprising, in combination, a casing having an opening therein,

a. door adapted "to close said opening, treadles, a rock shaft having an oiiset portion on which said treadles are pivoted, said ofiset portion bein adapted to move said treadles from an inoperable position to an operable position by the rocking of said shaft andmeans whereby the rocking of said shaft will open'said door.

121 A player piano comprising, lIlCOIllblnation, a casing having an opening therein, a door adapted to close said opening,

treadles, arock shaft, means for connecting said rock shaft to said treadles for moving said treadles from an inoperableposition to an operable position, means whereby the rocking of said shaft will cause the opening of said door, means for operating said shaft including an auxiliary shaft at an angle to lie said rock shaft, a third shaft at an-angle to said auxiliary shaft and means for connecting said shaftsincluding beveled gears.

18. A player piano comprising, in combination, a casing having an opening'therein,

a door adapted to" close said opening,

treadles, means for moving. said. treadles fronithe interior or" said'casingto a position exterior thereof through said, opening, said=means including members adapted to come into engagement as said movement is started for opening said door.

"19. A player piano comprising, in combi nation, a casing havingan open side, a vertical guideway at the top of said open side, a board adapted to be inserted in said guideway from the bottom thereof, means for retaining the lower portion of said board in place, said board being provided with an orifice, a door adapted to close said orifice, means for operating said door including an arm on said player piano and an element on said board in position to be normally out of engagement and to cause reinsertion of the 10 board automatically to bring the parts in position to cooperate.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. A. LANG. Witnesses J. THOMSON, C. J. KULBERG. 

